RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31221, 19 November 1966, Page 48

RANDOM REMINDER

PUFF PUFF PAR

In a world given over, largely, to the construction of atomic bombs and attempts to rocket people to the moon and to even more distant and insalubrious places, it is warming to realise that there are some who regard the steam locomotive as one of science’s greatest gifts to mankind. It is not without significance that today's youngsters still find model trains a tremendous attraction. They may turn over the pages of their comics and look at the pictures of space craft: but when dad’s home, and there’s time to let him play, it’s back to the drawing room and the train set. Even those who have model racing cars run by electricity often choose vintage models for their tracks. The romance of the rail is no empty phrase. It

is depressing to think that, before long, it will not be possible to enjoy the thrill of watching a steam locomotive at express speed—the rosy glow from the firebox, the spume of smoke trailing off into the night, the caterpillar of lighted carriages, the sense of power and colour and beauty which only the steam locomotive can provide. So the Canterbury branch of the Railways and Locomotive Society has far more support than mere membership in its efforts to retain and preserve some steam locomotives to be part of the scientific and technological museum at Ferrymead There are what are quaintly termed ferro equinologists everywhere. Already the branch has nine locomotives, either on hand or available, and

ultimately there will be a half-mile track at Ferrymead on which most of them will run. Of course, the society and its friends will need money for the project, and an ambitious scheme to raise it is being planned for next April. Already, however, members of the society are pouring concrete for culverts, and one of them has a locomotive in his back yard, for overhaul: it is unlikely that he could carry out this work in secret, and the prospects are that it often looks like the centre piece of a Giles cartoon. It is good to know that the small boys of today are not going to grow up in a world quite without steam locomotion. There is a need for romance i« their young lives: and tne diesel engine fails to provide it